Improvement in paper for napkins and other articles



UNITED STATES PATENT. FFIGE.

EDWARD PARRISH, on PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

lMeRovEMENT m PAPER FOR NAPKINS AND OTHER ARTICLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 115,511, dated May 30,1871.

I, EDWARD PARRISH, of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, .haveinvented a Paper Substitute for Towels, &c., of which the following is a specification: l

N (am and Object of the Incentidh. I My invention consists of paper treated, sub

stantially as described hereafter, so as to renderitserviceable as a substitute for towels,

napkins, table-cloths, &c.

General Description. In carrying out my invention I employ or' 3 dinary paper-stock; thatused in the manufacture of printing-paper, for instance, will I serve the desired purpose.

The pulpy web formed in common papermachines, and sometimes termed the waterleaf, assumes a crimped or puckered charac ter if allowed to pass from the machine without being subjected to the pressure-rolls, the

web having irregulartransverse ribs, so that the surface partakessomewhat of the characterof the coarse textile fabrics used for toweling, &c. When this puckered web is dry,

i however, it is of too stiff a nature to be used as a I substitute for towels; but by a process of rubbing and kneadingI so loosen the fibers of the fabric,without tearing the same, that it assumes a pliability equal, or nearly so, to that of J apanese paper made from the bark of the white mulberry tree, while it retains the rough ribbed surface. The loosening of the fibers may be accomplished in a variety of ways. i The driedand puckered water-leaf may, for instance,be cut to the desired size and shape, and rubbed on an ordinary fluted wash-board, and I have effectually loosened the fiberswithout tearing the paper by subl jecting itto the action of a common washingmachine. While towels, napkins, &c., made of paper thus treated cannot withstand the combined wear and tearwhich those made of textile fabric can resist, the paper towel can beused once for wiping thehands and face after washing, and hence it is well adapted to the use of travelers as a cleanly substitute for the towels which frequently have to do duty for ahost of hasty travelers, for a number of the paper towels can be made up into convenient parcels for being packed with other toilet articles in traveling-bags, valises, &c.

The paper towels may be fringed at the edges, or perforated, embossed, printed, or otherwise ornamented; or the prepared paper may be converted into neat 'and serviceable napkins for table use, or into table and other cloths; and, in fact, the softened waterleat' canbe employed in surgical treatments,'and may be applied to many domestic and personal uses. As regards economy, although it can be used but once or twice at most as a towel, its cost will barely equal that of washing an ordinary towel.

My invention can be carried into efi'ect by first crimping ordinary calendered printingpaper and afterward loosening the fibers in the manner described; but I prefer the use of the above-mentioned puckered water-leaf, as it is in a better condition for being kneaded and rendered pliable by the loosening of the fibers than the more compact and fragile calendered paper. The water-leaf, moreover, re-

tains, after the rubbing and loosening of the fibers, that rough surface so desirable in towels, napkins, &c.

A coarse, but pliable and serviceable, substitute for coarse cloths may be made from the water-leaf of brown or Manila paperby treating the same in the manner described.

'I do not claim, broadly, treating paper or paper-leaf by means of crimping or other rollers, so as to produce a flock-like surface, which would render it unserviceable for the purposes to which I apply it; but

I claim- 1. A fabric, from which to make a substi tute for woven towels, &c., consisting of the web or waterleaf dried after passing from the machine, without being pressed, and treat; ed as set forth.

2.- As a new manufacture, a sheet of said paper, having a wrinkled surface and forming a substitute for a woven towel or napkin.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name tothis specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

1 EDWARD PARRISH. Witnesses:

WM. A. STEEL, J. RUPERTUS. 

